CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS : Potpourri of Pols Vying in 14 Races

There’s the 19-year-old UCLA student. And the 75-year-old veteran lawmaker. The lesbian lawyer and the ex-judge with Christian fundamentalist ties. A hardware store owner, a swimming pool contractor, at least two millionaires, nine attorneys and one law student.

There are only three women, and no minorities.

Those are among the 28 Democratic and Republican candidates running for 14 state Senate, state Assembly and congressional seats in the region stretching from the Antelope Valley to the Santa Monica Mountains and from Glendale to Thousand Oaks.

About 2.5 million people live in this vast area, and about one-third of these will be eligible to vote in Tuesday’s election.

Of the 14 races, two are highly competitive. They are:

* The 24th Congressional District race between Rep. Anthony Beilenson (D-Woodland Hills) and attorney Richard Sybert, a former top aide to Gov. Pete Wilson. Armed with a background as a policy wonk, a fat campaign treasury (subsidized with more than $400,000 of his own money) and the vigorous support of the national GOP apparatus, Sybert, 42, poses a serious threat to Beilenson’s bid for a 10th term in Congress. (See accompanying story.)

* The 43rd Assembly District race between Assemblyman James Rogan (R-Glendale) and former federal prosecutor Adam Schiff, the Democrat. With the help of hefty campaign contributions from Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, Schiff, 34, is trying to prove that a Democrat can get elected to the Glendale-Burbank area, long a GOP stronghold. Rogan, 37, a former judge, was elected last spring to a seat held until February by Pat Nolan, who was forced to resign from the Assembly after pleading guilty to political corruption. (See accompanying story.)

The other races are:

20th Senate District: The race pits Herschel Rosenthal, 75, a Democratic senator who now represents a Latino-dominated district on the city’s Eastside, and Dolores White, 59, a real estate broker who helped organize the unsuccessful recall election last spring against state Sen. David Roberti (D-Van Nuys). Rosenthal had been ready to retire this year rather than run in the unfamiliar 22nd District allotted to him by reapportionment. But Rosenthal was moved, he says, to run for the 20th District because he wanted to put his legislative experience to use helping San Fernando Valley residents with earthquake relief. White, a longtime GOP activist, calls Rosenthal a liberal carpetbagger. The seat is open because term limits have ended Roberti’s long career in Sacramento.

36th Assembly District: Assemblyman William J. (Pete) Knight (R-Palmdale), 63, a former Air Force test pilot, faces Democrat James Hutchins, 44, a technician at Northrop-Grumman Corp. Knight is seeking a second term after stumbling badly in his debut after it was revealed that he had distributed a derogatory poem about Latinos among lawmakers. He has fought to get economic development aid for his Antelope Valley-based district, which has been hurt by defense and aerospace industry cutbacks. But Hutchins has said Knight has a lackluster record of protecting the Antelope Valley from economic shocks and pollution.

38th Assembly District: The race features an unusual matchup between Assemblywoman Paula L. Boland (R-Granada Hills) and Democrat Josh Arce, a 19-year-old UCLA student. Boland, 54, is expected to easily gain reelection to her last two-year term in office. Term limits will force her into retirement from the Assembly in 1996. Boland’s current term has been dominated by her efforts (still unsuccessful) to dismantle the huge L.A. Unified School District and by the Jan. 17 earthquake. Acre calls his campaign “a grass-roots alternative to the high-cost, cynical campaigns of mainstream politicians.”

39th Assembly District: Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) meets GOP challenger Nicholas Fitzgerald, 32, a computer technician. Katz, another victim of term limits, is seeking his last term in the Assembly. Katz, 44, has been one of Sacramento’s most active legislators, and in 1993, when he ran for mayor, he demonstrated that his political ambitions ranged beyond Sacramento. The $64,000 question: What does Katz, who is expected to easily win reelection, do next? Fitzgerald says the incumbent is weak on crime.

40th Assembly District: The race has Assemblywoman Barbara Friedman (D-North Hollywood), 45, facing a challenge from Republican Noel DeGaetano, 51, a moving company franchise owner. Friedman has tried to stake out a claim as one of the Assembly’s leading champions of women’s causes, and it is unlikely that DeGaetano--a nearly invisible challenger who predicted he would spend less than $1,000 on his campaign--will interrupt her chosen legislative career path.

41st Assembly District: The race pits feminist law professor Sheila Kuehl, 53, the Democrat, against GOP candidate Michael Meehan, 28, a student at Loyola Law School and a reserve deputy sheriff. Kuehl’s candidacy has attracted national media attention because her election would make her the state Legislature’s first openly gay member. Kuehl has also capitalized on the Hollywood glitz factor: The candidate played Zelda Gilroy in the 1960s TV sitcom “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.” Meanwhile, Meehan says Kuehl is too liberal. The district includes Encino, Tarzana and Woodland Hills, as well as Santa Monica and Brentwood.

42nd Assembly District: Democrat attorney Wallace Knox, 47, a community college trustee, meets Republican Robert Davis, 49, a West Hollywood swimming pool contractor. All the excitement left this race after the primary, in which seven Democrats, including four elected officials, scrambled for the prize of representing this affluent and heavily Democratic district. Knox won that primary by portraying himself as the candidate with the toughest anti-crime platform. The district, which includes Sherman Oaks, Beverly Hills and Bel-Air, is now represented by Assemblyman Burt Margolin, who must step down from his seat as the penalty for running in the June Democratic primary for state insurance commissioner.

44th Assembly District: The race pits Assemblyman Bill Hoge (R-Pasadena) against Bruce Philpott, 50, a Democrat and the former chief of the Pasadena Police Department. Hoge, 48, a former insurance company executive who is seeking his second term in office, has earned a reputation in Sacramento for the volume of his “no” votes and for his ability to attract tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the gambling and horse racing industries. Philpott has failed to raise the kind of money normally needed to oust an incumbent, but his name identification as a member of the Pasadena police brass very likely will help him with voters.

25th Congressional District: Rep. Howard (Buck) McKeon (R-Santa Clarita) takes on attorney James Gilmartin, 60, the Democrat. The 53-year-old McKeon, wealthy owner of a chain of Western wear stores, is seeking his second term, while Gilmartin is making a second bid for Congress (he also ran against McKeon in 1992). McKeon has been a reliable conservative vote in Congress and scored an early coup when he was elected president of the 51-member freshman GOP class in Congress. Gilmartin has spent much of his time trying to link McKeon to the troubles of a local bank.

26th Congressional District: Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) is challenged by Republican Gary Forsch, who manages his family owned hardware store and also ran in 1992 against Berman. Berman, the most active member of the political organization that bears his name and that of his colleague, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles), is seeking his seventh term in Congress after disappointing his longtime labor union allies by voting for the North American Free Trade Agreement. Forsch has accused Berman of being far too liberal.

27th Congressional District: Rep. Carlos J. Moorhead (R-Glendale) faces Democrat Doug Kahn, owner of a small print shop. As the 72-year-old Moorhead seeks his 12th term in office, the Kahn campaign has criticized the incumbent for opposing abortion and gun control measures, including the provision to ban assault weapons contained in President Clinton’s crime bill. Moorhead’s team, meanwhile, has accused Kahn, 42, of being a newcomer to the district who appears to live on the proceeds of a large inheritance. In 1992, when Kahn also ran against Moorhead, the incumbent scored 49% of the vote--enough to win, but still a dismal showing.

29th Congressional District: Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) meets 33-year-old Pal Stepanek, a video production company owner. Stepanek would be a true giant-killer if he could defeat Waxman, 55, now seeking his 10th term, in a district where Democrats enjoy a 2-1 registration lead over Republicans and Waxman’s name is political gold. But that’s not likely to happen to the incumbent, who has made a reputation fighting the tobacco industry and seeking tougher environmental controls.